Journal ArticleDOI
A Synthesis of Progress and Uncertainties in Attributing the Sources of Mercury in Deposition
Steve E. Lindberg,Russell Bullock,Ralf Ebinghaus,Daniel R. Engstrom,Xinbin Feng,William F. Fitzgerald,Nicola Pirrone,Eric M. Prestbo,Christian Seigneur +8 more
TLDR
It is agreed that the uncertainty is strongly dependent upon scale and that the question as stated is answerable with greater confidence both very near and very far from major point sources, assuming that the “global pool” is a recognizable “source.”Abstract:
A panel of international experts was convened in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2005, as part of the 8th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant. Our charge was to address the state of science pertinent to source attribution, specifically our key question was: "For a given location, can we ascertain with confidence the relative contributions of local, regional, and global sources, and of natural versus anthropogenic emissions to mercury deposition?" The panel synthesized new research pertinent to this question published over the past decade, with emphasis on four major research topics: long-term anthropogenic change, current emission and deposition trends, chemical transformations and cycling, and modeling and uncertainty. Within each topic, the panel drew a series of conclusions, which are presented in this paper. These conclusions led us to concur that the answer to our question is a "qualified yes," with the qualification being dependent upon the level of uncertainty one is willing to accept. We agreed that the uncertainty is strongly dependent upon scale and that our question as stated is answerable with greater confidence both very near and very far from major point sources, assuming that the "global pool" is a recognizable "source." Many regions of interest from an ecosystem-exposure standpoint lie in between, where source attribution carries the greatest degree of uncertainty.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
A review of global environmental mercury processes in response to human and natural perturbations: Changes of emissions, climate, and land use
TL;DR: Estimates of gaseous Hg0 emissions to the atmosphere over land, long considered a critical Hg source, have been revised downward, and most terrestrial environments now are considered net sinks of atmospheric Hg due to substantial Hg uptake by plants.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global atmospheric model for mercury including oxidation by bromine atoms
Christopher D. Holmes,Daniel J. Jacob,Elizabeth Sturges Corbitt,Jingqiu Mao,Xin Yang,Robert W. Talbot,Franz Slemr +6 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a global 3D simulation with the GEOS-Chem model assuming gas-phase Br to be the sole Hg0 oxidant (Hg + Br model) was conducted and compared to the previous version of the model with OH and ozone as the sole oxidants, and the results showed that the Hg+ Br model is equally capable of reproducing the spatial distribution of TGM and its seasonal cycle at northern mid-latitudes.
Journal ArticleDOI
A synthesis of atmospheric mercury depletion event chemistry in the atmosphere and snow
Alexandra Steffen,Thomas A. Douglas,Marc Amyot,Parisa A. Ariya,Katrine Aspmo,Torunn Berg,Torunn Berg,Jan W. Bottenheim,S. Brooks,F. Cobbett,Ashu Dastoor,Aurélien Dommergue,Ralf Ebinghaus,Christophe Ferrari,Katarina Gårdfeldt,Michael Evan Goodsite,David R. S. Lean,Alexandre J. Poulain,C. Scherz,Henrik Skov,Jonas Sommar,Christian Temme +21 more
TL;DR: A review of the current understanding of AMDEs from field, laboratory and modeling work, how Hg cycles around the environment after AMDE, gaps in our current knowledge and the future impacts that AMDE may have on polar environments is presented in this article.
Journal ArticleDOI
Legacy impacts of all‐time anthropogenic emissions on the global mercury cycle
TL;DR: In this article, a global biogeochemical model with fully coupled atmospheric, terrestrial, and oceanic Hg reservoirs is presented to better understand human influence on Hg cycling and timescales for responses.
Journal ArticleDOI
Cycling of mercury in the environment: Sources, fate, and human health implications: A review
Felix Beckers,Jörg Rinklebe +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, a review summarizes recent recent studies on Hg toxicity and its effects on the human health through the consumption of contaminated fish and rice since methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin and elemental Hg vapor is harmful for the central nervous system.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
The biogeochemical cycling of elemental mercury: Anthropogenic influences☆
TL;DR: A review of the available information on global Hg cycling shows that the atmosphere and surface ocean are in rapid equilibrium; the evasion of Hg0 from the oceans is balanced by the total oceanic deposition of hg(II) from the atmosphere as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Case for Atmospheric Mercury Contamination in Remote Areas
TL;DR: A review of the weaknesses in interpretation and the choice of information that has been used to argue against atmospheric Hg contamination can be found in this paper, where the authors examine the weaknesses of the information used to support the prevailing scientific view that natural geologic sources are the principal contributors of Hg.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global anthropogenic mercury emission inventory for 2000
TL;DR: Wilson et al. as mentioned in this paper presented a new inventory of global emissions of mercury to the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources for the year 2000, showing that the largest emissions of Hg to the global atmosphere occur from combustion of fossil fuels, mainly coal in utility, industrial, and residential boilers.
Journal ArticleDOI
Arctic springtime depletion of mercury
W.H. Schroeder,Kurt G. Anlauf,Leonard A. Barrie,J. Y. Lu,Alexandra Steffen,D. Schneeberger,Torunn Berg +6 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that during the spring (April to early June) of 1995, there were frequent episodic depletions in mercury vapour concentrations in Arctic surface air.